I'm always interested in hearing about the USMS demographics, but I couldn't find any information on USMS and college swimming. I was wondering roughly what percentage of US Masters swimmers swam in college and at what level. I also wanted to hear from you where you went, when, and what you loved / hated most about college swimming.
The answers posting to this thread are most definitely not the norm for USMS members...
Print off the poll and take it to your club coach or workout group.
Then post the results up.
I would venture to say that out of the 170 swimmers on our new club here in SoCal, maybe 3 or 4 max swam in college.
And probably less than 25 ever swam competitively at all.
Except during holiday breaks and the summer when our head coach allows any college swimmer to swim for free.
They do have to join USMS and affiliate with the club.
I assume this will drive up the competitive swimmer numbers in the near future.
As a new master's swimmer who has never competed, I am a bit surprised at the poll also (poll would indicate that I'm really in the minority). The day I visited the local Master's workout group & met the coach, literally the first words out of his mouth were "only about a quarter of members ever competed, many people who swam when young got burned out, and now do something else"
I don't recall being asked when joining USMS my swimming experience, so I wonder what the real numbers are. I think the members on the USMS blogs take it seriously (that's why they're on it :)) and therefore much more likely to have swam HS, college, or age group than perhaps the general USMS membership. Just my :2cents:.
I joined Masters for fitness & personal enjoyment with perhaps the eventual goal of competing. For now, however, I can echo what was posted once on the 'you know you're a swimmer when . . . your pants are now loose' . . . I am experiencing that & have lost 15-20 lbs since I started. I'm having to tighten my pant belts to the point where I might have to drop a size or two :). Oh, and feel better most of the time, too.
The answers posting to this thread are most definitely not the norm for USMS members...
Print off the poll and take it to your club coach or workout group.
Then post the results up.
I would venture to say that out of the 170 swimmers on our new club here in SoCal, maybe 3 or 4 max swam in college.
And probably less than 25 ever swam competitively at all.
Except during holiday breaks and the summer when our head coach allows any college swimmer to swim for free.
They do have to join USMS and affiliate with the club.
I assume this will drive up the competitive swimmer numbers in the near future.
As a new master's swimmer who has never competed, I am a bit surprised at the poll also (poll would indicate that I'm really in the minority). The day I visited the local Master's workout group & met the coach, literally the first words out of his mouth were "only about a quarter of members ever competed, many people who swam when young got burned out, and now do something else"
I don't recall being asked when joining USMS my swimming experience, so I wonder what the real numbers are. I think the members on the USMS blogs take it seriously (that's why they're on it :)) and therefore much more likely to have swam HS, college, or age group than perhaps the general USMS membership. Just my :2cents:.
I joined Masters for fitness & personal enjoyment with perhaps the eventual goal of competing. For now, however, I can echo what was posted once on the 'you know you're a swimmer when . . . your pants are now loose' . . . I am experiencing that & have lost 15-20 lbs since I started. I'm having to tighten my pant belts to the point where I might have to drop a size or two :). Oh, and feel better most of the time, too.
